While the Cookies Are In the Oven

I'm busy this morning making Alfajores because, well, that's what I want to eat. Tonight we are going to Mr. Doughboy's mission reunion and that's got me thinking about my mission and that takes me straight to Argentina in my mind and that takes me straight to alfajores. (Now you know how my mind works. Try and keep up, eh?) I'm all ready with my dulce de leche to put between two of the cookies (more on that later) and chocolate to bathe them in when they are done. I love that in Spanish they call it "bathed" in chocolate (bañado de chocolate). Wouldn't you just love to have all your food bathed in chocolate? It sounds so much more luxurious than "covered" in chocolate!

Oops, got sidetracked there. Anyway, so while we wait for those to be done, I thought I'd give you another larder posting.

Tomato Sauce. My own, homemade tomato sauce. It is so easy and so quick to put together. The taste is so refreshing. Most of us are used to that slow-cooked taste of tomato sauce. But this is a sauce that tastes straight from the garden. I canned this sauce to be used as a base for pasta sauces. You can either freeze it or can it if you have lots of tomatoes still to store up for the season. The secret is to use the ripest, most flavorful tomatoes you can get your hands on. (Italian plum tomatoes work best, in my opinion.)

Tomato Sauce
6 lbs fresh, ripe, flavorful tomatoes, peeled and quartered
3/4 C olive oil
2 small onions, peeled and diced

Remove the majority of the seeds from the tomato quarters. Puree the tomatoes in a food processor. Set aside. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. (I used my Dutch oven.) Add the diced onions and saute until it is translucent, about 5-7 minutes. Add the pureed tomatoes and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium and cook about 10 minutes. Taste the tomatoes and when they don't taste "raw" anymore, they are done.

Ladle the tomato mixture into hot sterilized canning jars and process in a water bath processor for 40 minutes (50 minutes if you live up in the high altitudes like I do). Or ladle the sauce into freezer containers, let cool to room temperature and freeze. You can keep this sauce in the freezer for up to 6 months.

This recipe makes about 6 cups of sauce.

Come back later today and I'll have the alfajores posted.